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MADLaT President's Report: Darlene Frederickson
Annual General Meeting, 08 May 2009
MADLaT 2009 is our 8th Annual conference – and once again – it is a success. It was a success even before all of you registered because of the spirit and work of our volunteers. They worked on, among others, the “Program Committee,” the “Call for Papers” Committee and the “Conference Planning Committee.” Together with the MADLaT Board, these volunteers create the Annual Conference. As an organization, this is our singular blessing. Thank you for doing this - some of you - year after year.
We are also fortunate to receive consistent support from our sponsors, partners and exhibitors. These include the Silver Sponsors: Assiniboine Community College and Brandon University; the Bronze Sponsors: College universitaire de Saint-Boniface; Manitoba Advanced Education & Literacy; Manitoba Science, Technology, Energy and Mines; Red River College; University College of the North; University of Manitoba; and, the General Contributors: Blackboard, Campus Manitoba and Manitoba Education, Citizenship & Youth.
Our Partners are: Assiniboine Community College, College universitaire de Saint-Boniface; digital learning; Manitoba Education, Citizenship & Youth; MERLIN, Red River College; Southwest Horizon School Division; St. James-Assiniboia School Division; University of North Dakota; University College of the North; University of Manitoba; University of Winnipeg; and, Winnipeg Technical College. And our Exhibitors this year are: Blackboard, Campus Manitoba; Desire2Learn, Healey Visual; Smarter U Inc., and, YouAchieve.com.
MADLaT is a collegial organization, bringing practitioners together to dialogue and learn and play, both by distance and F2F. We maintain a healthy listserv; we attract and encourage a roster of provincial, national and international volunteers; and, we continue our history of financial stability. Our goal is always to return value to our members. While, as noted already, a large component of our assets reside in the brains of our volunteers, we also have an up-to-date website and an efficient conference website with online registration.
This year, we planned a wonderful Conference and I think we succeeded. We had a crisis with the late, unexpected change in delivery mode for our keynote speaker and a major workshop. True to “MADLaT form,” our volunteers came through, worked together, and more than met the crisis. A special thank you to Red River College for support-in-kind through the crisis and as the beautiful host venue (and all that entails) for this year’s Conference. And we give a grateful nod to the University of Manitoba for hosting the Conference in previous years.
Our challenge for the future will be to continue as we have in the past. We always need new volunteers so the “old” volunteers can take a rest or try other tasks within the organization. We need to ensure that the successful organization and conference protocols we have developed over time and with trial and error continue to be utilized. These protocols, along with our early and continuing volunteers, comprise the organization’s “memory.” The Board will continue to need the support of all members.
And finally, I want to note that it has been a privilege to work with the Board members and the Conference volunteers this past year. You are all engaged, productive and open-to-learning practitioners. You know the meaning of dialogue. You practice what you preach.
And that is why MADLaT is surely so well-placed to continue its success.
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